By Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute I like Mike Rowe. Rowe, the host of the Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs and the new CNN program, Somebody’s Gotta Do It, is a complex guy. A former opera singer (really) and host for QVC (has great stories about Joan Rivers), Rowe has become an outspoken proponent for the blue collar jobs and workers in … Continue reading What Does Mike Rowe know about College?
by Watson Scott Swail, President & CEO, Educational Policy Institute There is always a lot of talk about college costs and future issues in higher education. I’ve written extensively about our inability to recast the higher education system due, in part, to the sheer weight of historical antecedents. That is, the system is burdened by the largess and bureaucratic nature of the system itself. Large systems … Continue reading The Continuing Nightmare: Tuition and Fees will Double in Less than 20 Years
By Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & CEO, Educational Policy Institute Last week, Robert Reich, the former Secretary of Commerce in the Clinton Administration, send this out on his Facebook account: HOW TO PAY FOR COLLEGE. This week I start teaching the second semester here at Berkeley. Many of my students and students at other universities are drowning in debt – which is distorting their career … Continue reading Robert Reich and College Affordability
by Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & CEO, Educational Policy Institute A few weeks ago, InsideHigherEd.com reported about the Oregon’s proposal to eliminate tuition fees at public colleges and universities. That statement, in isolation, isn’t exactly factual. Nothing is for free, is it? Or, at least, nothing good is generally for free. And the Oregon plan is not remotely close to free. What Oregon plans to … Continue reading College for Free? Not Really…
by Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & CEO, Educational Policy Institute I am stunned how many really bright people still want to fix college during the college years. OK, let’s back up. What do I mean? The biggest challenges with college, with regard to college access and completion, occur way, way before a student approaches matriculation. College access is fundamentally about academic preparation. All other … Continue reading Addressing our Higher Education Woes
The Swail Letter on Higher Education 